I have followed a theory for awhile now, that we can push the bio load limit in a reef tank. One of the tanks that made me investigate this further is pictured below. It seems to be working so far as i counted the other day and i have 63 fish in my system and i would imagine am close to the limit for the system. My question here is, are there any long term negatives that could creep up and bite me in the butt further down the line.
For those that haven't seen this tank before, enjoy.

Last edited by a moderator: 24 May 2007

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in one of my old 4ft setups 200L,i had it stocked with 26 fish and +-70kgs LR.just a little hang on skimmer,and 2 canister filters.kept this sytem for over year with succes.did 25L water changes a week,and used normal tap water for top ups.feel like doing this again on my next FOWLR setup.by the way nice pics alan

Magnificent looking tank.
Alan imo the days of starving your fish to benefit your corals are over. You often still read of guys putting their fish and tanks on low kJ diets to control nutrients;... but the trend is dyeing.

In the last few years i have stuck to a fairly methodical, healthy, if not heavy feeding regime. I think the change in my thinking came slowly and was not influenced by the internet and opinions of other reefers... as i did not know any; other than Sean at northlands. I started using marine mix when it first came out.... and then started adding cyclopeeze. It was almost as if my tank took a deep breath... and began to thrive. Life literally popped out of my rocks....and of course my (terribly missed )dsb
My dsb is what i thought was protecting me.

My new system is pure "Berlin". Heavy skimming and (not enough)live rock. I am also running full Zeo. I will never go back to the days of occasional feedings as my tank is so much more interesting now. Although my tank is only 6 months old it seems to have alredy found its groove. touch wood

Hi Sunburst, i suppose you right with the heavy skimming we now use i suppose those days are gone. I never starved my fish in the beginning i just limited them to about 15 or so. I must admit my system also looks alot better since the bio load has picked up a bit, but i cant help feeling there might be a kink in the cable up ahead.

I think if your skimmer is good enough for the tank, you have a load of live rock, and have some form of NNR running in your system, then I do not forsee a problem.
The tank posted above is friggin awesome. Be interesting to know how much water he has in the tank as well as in any storage areas.

I would think that as long as the organic leftovers from food is being removed by your skimmer, AC and waterchanges, It should be OK. What is left is detritis and dust, and as long as your detritivores build up a decent force, and you have very good water movement, it should be cool.

I think that the dust is probably the biggest prob over the longer term as it may block up you biological systems, LR or DSB.

I know I will be running a much higher load on my next tank.

One thing you must have is reliable electrical back-up as all that life sucks the oxygen flat pretty quickly in a power failure.

hiya alan,guess over and above what was mentioned.some of these tanks have major engine rooms,they also do major weekly water changes.guess if correct feeding qtys are given and no wastages and there are more animals in the system to keep breaking down the wastes then a fully loaded system can be achieved ooh and dont forget the carbon bill.yes my friend go get that rk2 skimmer,lol,just kidding al,i know you mite go order one now.btw your sytem is really looking good and those sps are blooding growing faster then in wild.actually faster than weeds.cool.

i know that eerie feeling all too well of wondering when somethings going to go wrong when things are going so right....

not a bad thing to keep on your toes.... i believe if there is an increase on bio-load there will have to be some upgrade in terms of filtration even if its as simple as adding an extra 200lt drum of water onto the system, just keep perforning the basics as you alaways would and there should be no problem..... consistency is the key my friend...